The Senate Fri. passed 2 copyright enforcement bills designed to respond to copyright infringement on P2P networks, including one that would give the Justice Dept. the authority to pursue civil cases against alleged infringing file-sharers.

In his most comprehensive remarks so far on broadband and telecom issues, President Bush told a packed auditorium of public officials at the Commerce Dept. he views broadband rollout, including broadband over powerlines (BPL), more efficient use of the spectrum and wireless broadband, as key building blocks of the U.S. economy.

Judges of the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, Thurs. remanded FCC’s major rules for cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations and the concentration of broadcast ownership in local markets. The court said the FCC should fix flaws in its diversity index, which it used to determine the new local cross-ownership rules.

AT&T said it would immediately stop competing for local and long distance residential customers in 7 states. It said the decision was a result of a decision by the Administration and FCC earlier this month not to appeal the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., ruling overturning the Commissions UNE rules (CD June 10 p1). The 7 states -- O., Mo., Wash., Tenn., La., Ark. and N.H. -- have a population of 38 million. AT&T, which has 4.4 million UNE-P based customers, also said it would assess its presence in other states.

On April 8, 2004, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation amended and approved the Rail Security Act of 2004 (S. 2273). On May 21, 2004, the Committee reported S. 2273 (Senate Report 108-278) and the bill was placed on the Senate legislative calendar.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a version of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) on Thurs. that had similarities to a version moving in the House Judiciary Committee, but it appeared not to be as restrictive on satellite broadcasters. The Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a replacement version of SHVIA reauthorization that was closer to House Judiciary legislation, according to industry sources and a spokesman for Senate Judiciary ranking Democrat Leahy (Vt.) SBCA said it was a “move in the right direction,” but added it still had some concerns with the bill. NAB didn’t return phone calls.

The RIAA Wed. lifted the veil of secrecy on its plan to seek content protections at the FCC to thwart widespread piracy of music transmitted over the emerging in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio (DAB) services.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a report to Congressional requesters entitled, Aviation Security: Further Steps Needed to Strengthen the Security of Commercial Airport Perimeters and Access and Controls.

Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) and FCC Chmn. Powell sent a letter to major broadcasters, challenging them to increase election news coverage and public affairs programming. The letter was sent to NAB Pres. Eddie Fritts, Disney Pres. Robert Iger, Fox COO Peter Chernin, NBC Chmn. Bob Wright and Viacom Co-Pres. Leslie Moonves. The letter commends broadcasters who are doing an exemplary job of covering election news and challenges others to do more. Powell and McCain, co-author of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, announced their challenge at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Any FCC action that heeds the RIAA’s call for content protection on in-band on-channel (IBOC) radio would be unjustified and outside the Commission’s legal jurisdiction, CEA said in comments on the FCC’s notice of inquiry (NOI) on the copyright implications of digital radio.